Police say man died after he broke into auto shop and cut himself

AURORA | A man who broke into an East Colfax Avenue auto shop early Saturday morning, cut himself and threatened police with a weapon has died, police said.

The incident started shortly after 2:30 a.m. when officers responded to an auto shop at 9230 E. Colfax Ave. on a report of a burglary in progress. Police said security cameras showed a person inside the building.

When the officers arrived, they found a man inside who was injured and armed with a “lethal cutting instrument,” police said in a statement.

Police have not yet provided details on what the man used to cut himself, and how he injured himself.

The man then started cutting himself when the officers approached and threatened police with the weapon, police said.

Police used a “less lethal” weapon on the man in an attempt to get him to stop cutting himself, but police said that didn’t work and the man retreated to another room inside the shop.

When police reached the man, he was unresponsive and later died at a hospital.

“During this incident, officers showed great restraint and no duty weapons were fired,” police said in the statement.

The man’s name and cause of death will be released by the Arapahoe County coroner’s office, police said.